This Friday Aquarium Drunkard presents the FYF Fest kickoff party at the Grandstar in Chinatown. In addition to Delorean and Superhumanoids there will be a “special guest” that is worth the price of admission alone. As with all our No Jacket Required parties, the free Firefly Vodka will be flowing from 8-10pm, so have at it.

TICKETS: No Jacket Required :: FYF Kickoff, Delorean, Superhumanoids, Plus Special Guest @ the Grandstar

943 N. Broadway (Chinatown) Los Angeles, CA – Doors at 8:00
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(Diversions, a recurring feature on Aquarium Drunkard, catches up with our favorite artists as they wax on subjects other than recording and performing.)

Earlier this month Nashville troubadour Bobby Bare Jr. lit out for the territories on tour in support of his first full-length record in four years, A Storm A Tree My Mother’s Head (which is out today).  On this this week’s installment of Diversions the singer/songwriter/bandleader waxes on why artists standing on political soapboxes really isn’t all that different than your dentist, only without a mouth full of novacaine. Enjoy.  Bare Jr. and co. are gigging tonight, here in Los Angeles, at the Echo.

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So let’s say you have a really sore tooth and you’re at the dentist’s office. You’re in the chair, your mouth is wedged open wide, and you notice a large picture of a president for which you did not vote hanging over the shoulder of the dental assistant. She lays the gas on you and then the dentist walks in. He begins picking at your stinky teeth while speaking passionately about politics you don’t really agree with, and some that you don’t really have an opinion about. Mostly, YOU’RE JUST THERE TO HAVE YOUR FUCKING TEETH FIXED and can’t say a thing. This is how many fans of music feel when they go to a show.

They may have heard one of your songs on the radio or on the web and liked it, or they knew some cute girls who might be goin’ to the show that night, and they paid their money for some “musical entertainment”. Then they are drug through the political opinions of someone who may or may not have a very well informed opinion. The artist on stage has just potentially lost half a crowd (who may not agree with his/her opinions). The rest of the crowd that is indifferent or may actually agree with the songwriter is possibly pissed because they came there to ENJOY MUSIC and hear a familiar melody, or maybe sing along. They did not come to listen to a lonely one sided “Crossfire“.

Just because you have the talent to write a song does not mean that you also have an equally special gift for politics or an especially qualified political opinion. THEY JUST DON’T ALWAYS GO TOGETHER. Many talented musician friends of mine are the last mutherfuckers in the room who should be talking about politics, as they mostly only think about girls, free beer, perfectly tattered vintage jeans and music. That is fine, as that is what has worked for many musicians before them.

Johnny Cash sang in “The One On The Left Is On The Right” the line, “and if you have political opinions keep them to yourself,” but also wrote “The Man In Black.“ It’s a strange, yet common, dilemma. There are many songwriters of whom their audience knows, before they pay for their tickets, they are going to get a one sided political ear load. But it’s an obstacle for a fan to like the singer’s songs if they don’t agree with the songwriter politically. I once heard a rumor that members of one of my favorite bands were all members of the opposing political team. I allowed it to taint the way I felt about music that I already liked and wished I never heard that rumor. Who is the artist benefiting other than himself or herself to impose that choice on the listener. If Steve Earle was a truck driver instead of a musician, he would surely be on his CB blasting to anyone who had the desire to listen to his opinions, while truckin’ down the highway on his way to the next death row execution/protest- it is unapologetically just who he is. I understand this about some of these hyper-political songwriters. I admire their passion and know that they just can’t help themselves. For these, some of them great songwriters, music is mostly just used as a tool to sneak their opinions into your ear. I am a fan of many of these people and I don’t feel it is wrong of me to prefer to hear them sing me a song rather than listen to the sound of them trying to sway me or my political ideals – many of which are parallel to whomever is on stage, but why preach to the converted?

Frankie Rose recently cut this cover for Aquarium Drunkard as a teaser for our upcoming girl-groups mixtape, Where The Boys Aren’t. Penned by Leiber and Stoller, Frankie & The Outs inject garage haze into the track first covered by Dee Dee Warwick for Jubilee Records back in 1963. Rose and co. kick off their upcoming U.S. tour with a record release show in Brooklyn, NY September 15th (full dates here). Look for their self-titled debut out 9/21 on Slumberland Records.

MP3: Frankie Rose & The Outs :: You’re No Good (Dee Dee Warwick)
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September 5th and 8th, Aquarium Drunkard presents The Gories at Spaceland (9/5) the Echo (9/8). We’re giving away several pairs of tickets for each show. To enter: leave a comment below with you name, the date of show, and an email address we can reach you at. Winners chosen at random and will be notified with tickets held at will-call.

Mp3: The Gories :: Hey, Hey We’re The Gories
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+ Download The Gories via eMusic’s 35 free MP3 no risk trial offer
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For an outfit whose very name professed a preference for anonymity, there’s a surprising amount of information available nowadays about this bunch of rockin’ Chicano chavales; check out their Wikipedia page for the full Monty. Question Mark himself has gone to considerable lengths to conceal his identity over the years, and why not? It’s one of rock & roll’s best-loved clichés. However, copyright registrations in the Library of Congress show his birth name as Rudy Martinez.

This, the first of their two albums, followed the runaway success of the single “96 Tears” as the title indicates, but it’s not the usual mid-sixties cash-in collection with a couple of hits padded out by inferior versions of “I’ve Got My Mojo Working” and “Summertime”. Of the twelve tracks, only one is a cover – “Stormy Monday”, the band’s inevitable contemporary bow to the blues – and the rest are originals, the writing mostly credited to all the band members. Simple stuff, mostly, with a limited palette of keys and chords, but at least they made the effort.

Of course they’re the quintessential r&b garage band, with the leanest, meanest sound around; they make Booker T and the MGs sound like the Electric Light Orchestra. The British Invasion influences are crystal-clear: the bass/guitar/organ interplay on the sparse twelve-bar “Up Side” shows a clear link from Eric Burdon’s original Animals, while the choppy rhythm of “You’re Telling Me Lies” is a direct steal from Doug Sahm’s own Invasion- derived “She’s About A Mover”. The more vehement of ?’s vocals, as on “96 Tears”, are a dead ringer for Van Morrison in his Them days. There’s also a closer-than-accidental resemblance to the Rolling Stones’ earliest American recordings that goes deeper than ?’s occasional Jagger impersonations. Play any of the Stones’ tracks recorded on their 1964 visit to Chess and released on the 5 x 5 EP (UK) or the 12 x 5 album (US) and you’ll see what I mean: that wiry, reverbed sound on the Stones’ “Confessin’ The Blues” as against the Mysterians’ take on “Stormy Monday”, or on the steady-rollin’ “Empty Heart” as against “Ten O’Clock”. The major differences are the forefronted Vox Continental on most of the Mysterians’ waxings and the undeniable fact that Bobby Balderama was no Brian Jones when it came to creative guitar playing.

So, derivative certainly. But, hey, if you really need originality, go play Pet Sounds or Odessey & Oracle. This is one to put on when your head’s woolly from the perplexing complexity of prog-rock and all you need is a fix of something raw and primal. For twice the strength, get the 2005 compilation Cameo Parkway – The Best Of which has the whole of this album and the follow-up Action – more of the same, though a bit denser sonically – carefully remixed from the originals, plus both sides of their valedictory non-album single. (Avoid other compilations, most of which contain re-recordings.) words/ len

MP3: ? and the Mysterians :: 96 Tears
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AD is giving away a copy of  Light In The Attic Records vinyl reissue of Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin’s Je T’aime… Moi, Non Plus. You know you want one. Like the Kristofferson giveaway last month, I will choose the winner at random. Also, the first two winners I chose last time never replied to the email so it went to someone else; so, you know, leave a valid address in the email field. Hit it up in the comments below from now until Friday at 5pm.

+ Download DRM free tunes via eMusic’s 35 free MP3 no risk trial offer
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Speaking of the King, rockabilly mama Janis Martin was touted as “the female Elvis” while coming up in the late ’50s recording with Chet Atkins, Bob Moore and Floyd Cramer. In addition to the Bear Family collection it looks like there is another (fairly) new compilation out entitled Cracker Jack. Wanda Jackson/Sparkle Moore fans take note.

MP3: Janis Martin :: Bang Bang
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+ Download Janis Martin via eMusic’s 35 free MP3 no risk trial offer
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Our weekly two hour show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 26 (SIRIUS), and channel 43 (XM), can now be heard twice, every Friday – Noon EST with an encore broadcast at Midnight EST.

New Mondo Boys mix can be found here….

SIRIUS 156: Jean Michel Bernard – Generique Stephane ++ Sweet Tea – If I Were A Carpenter ++ Cotton Jones – Glorylight And Christie ++ Cass McCombs – Dreams Come True Girl ++ Vic Chesnutt & Liz Durrett – Somewhere ++ Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood – Summer Wine ++ Tandemoro – Medicine For Melancholy ++ The Kinks – Picture Book ++ Jacques Dutronc – J’ai Mis Un Tigre Dans Ma Guitare ++ King Khan & BBQ – Waddlin’ Around ++ Ty Segall – Caesar ++ Dirt Dress – Sonic Death ++ The Bellys – Chow Chow ++ Yo La Tengo – Autumn Sweater ++ Dump – Raspberry Beret ++ The Besnard Lakes – Disaster ++ Takeshi Terauchi – Hana-Gasa Ondo / Beck – Random Order Times (Words) ++ The Drifters – Another Night With The [Mondo] Boys ++ The Equals – Reincarnation ++ Washed Out – Untitled NO. 5 ++ Dara Puspita – Pip Pip, Yeah ++ Monster Rally – Honeymoon / The Michaels – Past The Moon ++ The Oh Sees – Tidal Wave ++ Sonny & The Sunsets – Planet of Women ++ Richard Swift – Drakula (HEY MAN) ++ Kenny Graham Anf His Satellites – One Four / The Beach Boys – Whistle In ++ Phillip Glass – Winnie Goes To The Sea ++The Beatles – Los Paranoias ++ News – Loser ++ Elmore James – Rollin’ And Tumblin’ ++ Bill Fox – Grand-Ville Blues ++ Tom Ze – O Sandalo ++  El Guincho – Mientes ++ Kenny Graham And His Satellites – Tropical Sun ++ Brenda Lee – Is it True/ Harlem – Gay Human Bones ++ Susan Christie – Yesterday, Where’s My Mind ++ Yura Yura Teikoku – Ohayo Mada Yaro ++ Marie Laforet – Marie Douceur, Marie Colere ++ Richard Swift – The Atlantic Ocean (Pacific Ocean Version) ++ Emmit Rhodes- Promises I’ve Made ++ Nashville Teens – Tobacco Road ++ Clarence Carter – Gettin The Bills (But No Merchandise) ++ The Bees – Silver Line ++ Deerhunter – Revival ++ Edwyn Collins – Losing Sleep ++ Black Moth Super Rainbow – I Am The Alphabet ++ S.E. Rogie – Please Go Easy With Me

*You can listen, for free, online with the SIRIUS three day trial — just submit an email address and they will send you a password.
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“I was thinking that night about Elvis, the day he died. Just a country boy that combed his hair, and put on a shirt his mother made and went on the air.  And he shook it like a chorus girl. And he shook it like a Harlem queen. He shook it like a midnight rambler, baby, like you never seen.” – Gillian Welch (from Time The Revelator)

Like Gillian Welch, above, I too was thinking about Elvis—whose 33rd death anniversary was last week (August 16, 1977). As entertainers go they come no more iconic than Presley; which, really, is always a double-edged sword. For those of us who grew up in the 1980s, my peers and I were bombarded with the media/merchandising flood of post-death Elvis; much of it capitalizing on Presley’s final days. For many years most of what I knew of the man was culled from grocery store “Elvis Lives”, magazine rack, lore and late-night talk show jokes, coupled with the images of jumpsuits, sunglasses and karate moves. While I could certainly appreciate the kitsch factor, at the time Presley seemed more a bloated clown figure from the previous decade than a seminal rock & roll instigator.

It wasn’t until sometime during college that I finally got it and was able to get past the facade and really hear the music for what it was. My aunt loved his gospel records and I remember as a kid her describing Elvis’s voice as “honey-throated.” Years later I finally understood what she meant.

Here is an old favorite; the spectral “Blue Moon” found on Elvis’s Sun Studio Sessions.  Haunting.

MP3: Elvis Presley :: Blue Moon (Sun Session)
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+ Download Elvis Presley’s Sun Sessions via eMusic’s 35 free MP3 no risk trial offer
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(Diversions, a recurring feature on Aquarium Drunkard, catches up with our favorite artists as they wax on subjects other than recording and performing.)

Dedicated to their friend and collaborator Vic Chesnutt, Elf Power’s self-titled tenth LP is one of maturity and grace. A decade and a half into their career, the group’s lo-fi leaning pop songwriting continues to evolve without abandoning the very thing that drew us in in the first place. Below Elf Power’s Andrew Rieger reflects on his relationship with the music of the late Vic Chesnutt. Look for Elf Power out September 14th on Orange Twin Records.
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I was a big REM fan as a teenager growing up in the small town of Greenwood, South Carolina, just eighty miles away from Athens, GA where the band lived. REM turned me onto a lot of other obscure bands that i had not yet discovered through the cover songs they recorded and played live.

This is how I first learned about great bands like Velvet Underground, Mission of Burma, Television, and Athens’ own Pylon. The members of REM also played on and produced records by lots of other great bands which lead me to the likes of the Replacements, the Feelies, Hugo Largo, and one of our greatest modern songwriters, Vic Chesnutt, whose first two albums, Little and West of Rome, were produced by Michael Stipe.

Little was basically just Vic singing and playing these strange and wonderful songs live, with very little embellishment. These bizarre tales of accidentally catching a kitten and a possum in a rabbit box as a child (“Rabbit Box“), recollections of childhood cartoons mixed with declarations of atheism (“Speed Racer“), and shout outs to Ernest Hemingway, the “articulate dead fisherman” (“Independence Day“), were a revelation to me as far as the possibilities of the scope of what could be related to a listener in song.

The follow up album West of Rome expanded on the debut with fuller arrangements including drums, bass, strings and keyboards. This album is my all time favorite Vic album, with utterly gorgeous and mysterious tearjerkers like “Where were you”, the beautiful, meandering guitar solo that builds into a majestic climax in “Withering“, and the morbid piano ballad “Florida” which says of the state, “There’s no more perfect place to retire from life.”

Vic was a really fun artist to be a fan of, because you never knew who he was going to collaborate with next, or what it would sound like. The Salesman and Bernadette, his 1998 collaboration with Nashville mini orchestra Lambchop, was an unexpected triumph into new sonic territories, his collaboration with Widespread Panic, Brute, produced two really fun, off the cuff recordings, and his collaborations with Guy Picciotto from Fugazi and Canadian dirgesmiths A Silver Mt. Zion, produced two dark and beautiful records, North Star Deserter and At the Cut.

I was lucky enough to make a record with Vic, with my band Elf Power titled Dark Developments, and we called the collaborative effort Vic Chesnutt, Elf Power, and the Amorphous Strums. We recorded it over the course of a year in 2007-2008 in Vic’s attic studio. We would come in, Vic would show us a song, we’d play through it a few times, record it and move on. Vic didn’t want us to overthink what we played, he wanted our first instinctual ideas, which was hard for me as I’m used to working out ideas by listening to demos and having plenty of time to think up arrangements, but it was a challenging and ultimately very rewarding and fun way to make a record.

We toured all over the world with Vic, and had some great adventures, such as witnessing him get caught for shoplifting a notebook and subsequently talking his way out of getting arrested in Madrid, having him sometimes scream “Help! Help! No!” to confused passers by in crowded parking lots, as we lifted him into the van, to make them think we were kidnapping him, and his legendarily nasty impromptu soundcheck songs sung for our amusement.

When we played Carnegie Hall in 2009 for an REM tribute concert, we thought he might hold back from the obscenities in those hallowed halls, but instead he sang a particularly nasty and obscene little song much to our delight. Vic was a lovely man, a really great and unique songwriter and one of the funniest people I’ve ever had the honor of sitting in a stinky van for 6 weeks straight with.  words/ Andrew Rieger photo/ p.j. sykes

MP3: Elf Power :: Stranger In The Window
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I did not upload these myself (looks like they’ve been floating out there in the ether for awhile) but had to share it.

Link To Zipped Folder: Talking Heads :: The CBS Demos, 1975

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